Feds go after California health care fraud in sweeping early morning takedown

Federal authorities, fed up with California leaders’ inaction on health care fraud, launched a series of raids Thursday, arresting suspects accused of bilking taxpayers out of millions.

Eight people were taken into custody during “Operation Never Say Die,” including three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist, who all face federal charges for allegedly scamming the nation’s health care system of more than $50 million. 

“When the state says that they are taking fraud seriously, it’s a bold faced lie,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli told reporters during a Thursday press conference. 

The defendants allegedly ran sham hospice facilities that recruited beneficiaries who were not terminally ill, according to federal officials. 

Around 6 a.m., SWAT teams descended onto the Anaheim home of Gladwin Gill, 66, and his wife, Amelou Gill, 70, who were charged with health care fraud and allegedly submitted $5.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services that were not medically necessary or ever provided.  

The Gills started a hospice agency under their daughter’s name because they both had a prior criminal history of tax evasion, which barred them from opening a facility. 

“They’re operating this fraudulent hospice under their daughter’s name and the nurse would fabricate and add things to the medical file to make it look like the beneficiaries were terminally ill when they weren’t,” Essayli explained. 

Nita Palma, 76, who is a thrice-convicted health care fraudster and is currently incarcerated in federal prison for health care fraud, partnered with her husband Adolfo Catbagan, 68, to open at least three fraudulent hospice agencies — including while Palma was free on bond awaiting a hospice fraud trial, authorities said. 

Catbagan was arrested this morning, and his wife faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, and 10 counts of health care fraud. 

Law enforcement arrested a handful of other alleged health care fraudsters, all with similar stories. 

“We want to be very frank about this, the federal government is the purse — all the money comes from the federal government, but it’s administered through the states,” Essayli said. “California is responsible for issuing hospice licenses. They’re responsible for regulating doctors and nurses, and the problem that you see in California is that there is no vetting and there’s no checking.” 

The raids come on the heels of a California Post investigation that revealed a network of suspicions doctors who appear to be driving tens of millions of questionable billing in California’s hospice system. 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced during the press conference Thursday that the US Attorney’s office is also going after Dr. Fariba Javaherian, a dermatologist who was associated with 63 hospice facilities across the state and billed Medicare more than $35 million in 2025. 

“There are other people involved that the US attorney is going after, Fariba Javehrian, probably read about last night, had her billing privileges revoked yesterday,” Dr. Oz told reporters. “For some reason, although everyone knew there was a problem there, her 113 agencies she worked with, one doctor was working with.” 

The announcement comes a day after The Post revealed dermatologist Javaherian had her billing license revoked following the investigation. 

Between Jan. 1, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2025, Javaherian’s NPI was used for more than 31,000 claims at 130 different hospice agencies, totaling more than $173 million, according to CMS billing data obtained by The Post.   

She has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but Dr. Oz’s announcement Thursday that the US Attorney is looking into Javaherian signals what he calls a “seismic shift” in the agencies approach to cracking down on potential fraudulent businesses and health care providers. 

“CMS is going to suspend payments and stop money from leaving the US, that’s our goal. We are going to review every single hospice in California to make sure they are all appropriate, and we hope to do that expeditiously — we’ll do it this year,” he said, adding that CMS has already suspended 221 hospice licenses. 

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters